Method and apparatus for controlling operations of electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9924299-B2
Application number	US-201514626720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2015
Priority date	Feb 20, 2014
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a beacon relay method for an electronic device. A method to operate an electronic device is provided. The method includes receiving a beacon signal. The method also includes analyzing information in the received beacon signal. The method further includes determining whether to relay the beacon signal based on the analyzed information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to operate an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving a beacon packet from a first electronic device via wireless communication links based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE);
identifying, from the beacon packet, identification information of a destination electronic device, wherein the identification information is included in a packet data unit (PDU) payload of the beacon packet;
determining whether the identification information of the destination electronic device corresponds to an identifier of the electronic device;
if it is determined that the identification information of the destination electronic device does not correspond to the identifier of the electronic device, generating another beacon packet comprising the identification information; and
broadcasting the other beacon packet to relay the beacon packet to a second electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, from the beacon packet, contact information of a host electronic device which first transmitted the beacon packet;
determining whether the contact information corresponds to a piece of a contact list stored in the electronic device; and
if it is determined that the contact list does not correspond to the piece of the contact list stored in the electronic device, generating another beacon packet comprising the contact information.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, from the beacon packet, a location at which the beacon packet is first transmitted by a host electronic device, and limit radius;
calculating a spaced distance between the location and a current location at which the beacon packet is received; and
if it is determined that the calculated spaced distance is equal to or shorter than the limit radius, generating another beacon packet comprising the location and the limit radius.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, if it is determined that the beacon packet comprises emergency or urgent information, processing the beacon packet to be played back and generate another beacon packet to the second electronic device.

5. An electronic device comprising a processor configured to:
receive a beacon packet from a first electronic device via wireless communication links based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE);
identify, from the beacon packet, identification information of a destination electronic device, wherein the identification information is included in a packet data unit (PDU) payload of the beacon packet;
determine whether the identification information of the destination electronic device corresponds to an identifier of the electronic device;
if it is determined that the identification information of the destination electronic device does not correspond to the identifier of the electronic device, generate another beacon packet comprising the identification information; and
broadcasting the other beacon packet to relay the beacon packet to a second electronic device.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify, from the beacon packet, contact information of a host electronic device which first transmitted the beacon packet;
determine whether the contact information corresponds to a piece of a contact list stored in the electronic device; and
if it is determined that the contact list does not correspond to the piece of the contact list stored in the electronic device, generate another beacon packet comprising the contact information.

7. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify, from the beacon packet, a location at which the beacon packet is first transmitted by a host electronic device, and limit radius;
calculate a spaced distance between the location and a current location at which the beacon packet is received; and
if it is determined that the calculated spaced distance is equal to or shorter than the limit radius, generate another beacon packet comprising the location and the limit radius.

8. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to, if it is determined that the beacon packet comprises emergency or urgent information, process the beacon packet to be played back and generate another beacon packet to the second electronic device.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive a beacon packet from a first electronic device via wireless communication links based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE);
identify, from the beacon packet, identification information of a destination electronic device, wherein the identification information is included in a packet data unit (PDU) payload of the beacon packet;
determine whether the identification information of the destination electronic device corresponds to an identifier of an electronic device;
if it is determined that the identification information of the destination electronic device does not correspond to the identifier of the electronic device, generate another beacon packet comprising the identification information; and
broadcast the other beacon packet to relay the beacon packet received from the first electronic device to a second electronic device in accordance with a result of the determination.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon packet is received via wireless communication based on at least one of a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) module, an infrared transmission module, or a speaker.

11. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the beacon packet is received via wireless communication based on at least one of a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) module, an infrared transmission module, or a speaker.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Han Young-Eun
• Son Kwang-Sub
• Son Sung-Ho
• Choi Won-Suk

Classifications

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W88/04

  adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user · CPC title

• H04B7/15

  Active relay systems · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title